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Charles Harris - Biography |
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Charles Harris has come to
directing features after a varied early career which ranged from
freelance photography and Aikido to published short story writer, twice
short-listed for awards. Starting in the film industry as a
projectionist in a dubbing theatre, where he learned about film-making
by watching the very end of the process, he moved to TV cutting-room
assistant before becoming an editor for BBC and LWT and then finally
director of TV documentaries and video.  The
time he spent as a photographer early in his career can be seen in his
strongly visual style, and his very first documentary as director, Marc
Chagall, The Colours of Passion, won awards at Melbourne and
Hemisfilm. He wrote and directed the TV series Religion and
Civilisation, and the BBC2 award-winning Post Impressions. A
long commercial for the Euroroute Channel crossing consortium won a
silver award at Chicago. Downburst, the part-dramatisation of a
tense air-crash investigation won gold at Chicago, and his satirical BBC
documentary Sex, Drugs and Dinner won Best Network Programme in
the One World Awards. He always loved drama - in particular comedy - and even while directing documentaries found time to direct fringe theatre. Overall, his credits include work with such diverse names as James Stewart, Alexei Sayle, Spike Milligan and Melvyn Bragg. His drama short On the 8 Ball (written by him and co-directed with Philip Chavannes) was made by his own production company - Footloose Films - and screened as part of UK Channel 4's prestigious Gangsters season. It was selected for showing in the British Pavilion in Cannes 2000 in a showcase of "the best in contemporary UK independent film and video". Following the international festival success of Paradise Grove, he directed the award-winning stage play Our Father for Pentameters Theatre, Hampstead. His latest film is Silent Voices written by Barbara Gorna - an unusual and hard-hitting Talking Heads-style TV docudrama. He is currently slated to direct two new feature films for European and American production companies, including the off-beat comedy thriller King of the Docks, based on the true story of a British pop singer and the Ukrainian Mafia. And every month he gives his thoughts on the greatest or weirdest indie movies on Sky Movies' Director's Chair |
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